MPs did not pass more penalties for those who refuse vaccines

Health minister proposed banning unvaccinated kids from kindergartens.

Vaccination against measlesVaccination against measles (Source: TASR)

Kindergartens will be free to admit children who have not been administered compulsory vaccination.

MPs voted out the proposal drafted by Health Minister Andrea Kalavská (Smer nominee), aimed at preventing children who had not been vaccinated from attending preschool. Currently, no such restrictions apply in Slovakia.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Most Smer MPs abstained from the vote and failed to support their minister, as did part of the junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) and Most-Híd. The whole Ordinary People (OĽaNO) caucus and some unaffiliated MPs also failed to support the bill. The far-right People's Party - Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) rejected it too. Their programme is strictly against compulsory vaccination.

SkryťTurn off ads

"Elections will take place shortly. This is a topic that provokes a lot of emotions. [...] If we had broached this topic two or three years earlier, we could have had a rational discussion [about it]," Smer MP Ľubomír Petrák said. He abstained from voting, although he says he did so by mistake and had wanted to support the draft law.

"MPs have shown once again that parliament does not care about patients, the health of citizens or the health of children, but they care about political pre-election games," the health minister's spokesperson Zuzana Eliášová said.

There are approximately 8,000 - 11,000 children in kindergartens for whom dangerous contagious illnesses pose a threat. These are children whose bodies did not respond to vaccines by creating a sufficient level of antibodies, or cannot be vaccinated due to other health conditions. All they are left with is reliance on their classmates being vaccinated.

SkryťTurn off ads

Smer: It was no revenge

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Janka, a blogger, during the inauguration of the first flight to Athens with Aegean Airlines at the airport in Bratislava on September 14, 2023.

A Czech rail operator connects Prague and Ukraine, Dominika Cibulková endorses Pellegrini, and Bratislava events.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad